Friday, January 26, 2007

Bracketology Midterm

According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, Vanderbilt is currently a 9 seed in Bracketology. When you consider that that doesn’t even factor in our convincing win at LSU, that 9 seed is artifically low. Of the 7 SEC teams "in" according to Joe, only 3 won their mid-week games (Florida, Georia, and Vanderbilt). While Vanderbilt will continue to suffer the slings and arrows of their home loss to Furman, if they continue to play like they have as of late, that bump in the road won’t effect our ability to get down in March.

Currently the SEC is slated to get 7 teams: Florida (1 seed), Kentucky (6), Tennessee (8), Vanderbilt (9), Georgia (9), Arkansas (10), Alabama (10). Sorry Kentucky loyalists out out there in Commodore Nation, they are over-rated and over-ranked as a 6 seed. With only 1 win against a top 25 RPI team, Kentuck's March Bona Fides as such a high seed are suspect, especially when compared to those of Vanderbilt and Tennessee (and perhaps even Georgia, although that still seems premature). Kentucky still has to play Tennessee twice, Florida twice, Georgia at Rupp, Vanderbilt in Memorial, and at Alabama. None of those games will be easy and despite being "steady" according to Joe's arrows, I think Kentucky has the potential to drop further down the bracket.

For Vanderbilt, their path to the dance shapes up much better. While the Commies have to go to Florida and Tennessee, they get Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, and another shot at Florida in Memorial. Beyond those games against Bracketology teams, Vanderbilt still has to play Ole Miss (home), South Carolina (home and away), and at Mississippi State. While the SEC has shown that no game is a gimme, Kevin Stallings' squad is in a very advantageous position right now.

One more note: Vanderbilt is not only 5-1 against ranked opponents this season, but they are also 4-2 against big Joe's Bracketology teams.